Field hockey wins first two at home

By Allison Goldsmith

Saturday

Mar 1, 2014 at 2:00 AM

It was a busy week for the field hockey squad with five games in seven days, including three on the road. The Whalers picked up their first two wins of the season with a 1-0 shutout against Durfee and a 3-0 gem against Wareham, both at home. On the road the Whalers fell at Mashpee 1-0, Norwood 3-1 and Martha’s Vineyard 3-2.

Nantucket, which dropped to 2-5 overall on the season, is scheduled to play Falmouth Saturday, and then will have a lengthy break until they play at Sturgis next Friday.

The Whalers have been struggling to put the ball in the net in the first few games of the season, but have kept the games close, scoring eight times to their opponents’ 11. Five of the Whalers’ first seven games have been decided by one goal.

“I really think we try to play too clean in the circle. We make that extra pass instead of taking the shot on net,” head coach Lori Moran said.

The Whalers saw new goal-scorers get into the mix this week with points from Andrea Marelli, Nikki Sue Symer and Caroline Stanton.

Against the rival Vineyard squad on Tuesday, the Whalers had the early advantage.

“They always get pumped for the Vineyard. They came out and they controlled from start to finish. We just have no luck. I couldn’t have asked for anything else from them,” Moran said.

The Vineyard scored on a broken play only three and a half minutes into the game, but three minutes later the Whalers were able to get the equalizer. Shelby Campbell connected with Marelli to tie the game at 1-1, which held until the half.

“We came out in the second half and 100 percent had control of the ball for the first 14 minutes of the half,” Moran said.

On the eighth of nine corners in the game, Cassie Moran passed off to Marelli, who knocked in her second goal of the game and of the season, putting the Whalers up 2-1.

But the Vineyard wasn’t finished. Two minutes after Nantucket grabbed hold of the lead, the Vineyard retied the game and then with three minutes to play, they scored off a corner play.

The Whalers had four shots on net in the last minute of the game, but could not get the ball past the goalie, Moran said.

Katie McInerney made 14 saves on 17 Vineyard shots on net.

“They have some very strong midfielders, their goalie was strong. We had 17 shots on net too, which is a lot for us. I really thought our midfield really controlled the game and they played very well. We worked harder, we knew we had to play to their level and we played strong as a team. Our passing was better, everything was much better today,” Moran said.

Lia Newman and Grace-Anne Tornovish were connecting in the midfield, while Rachel Siegel and Morgan Tornovish were solid on defense, Moran said.

Against Norwood on a Monday afternoon, the Whalers weren’t so fortunate. “We didn’t come out on all cylinders. They have always killed us. We always come out slow. Their field is slow and very bumpy. We just don’t play well on it and we just didn’t give it the effort,” Moran said.

The Whalers did take an early lead when Symer scored off a scramble two and a half minutes into the game. But the Mustangs came right back to even the score. The dueling squads were tied at one at the break, but Norwood tacked on two more in the second half to take the win.

Casey Kurash played in goal for the Whalers and made 17 saves on 20 shots on net.

Home-field advantage

Fresh off a win the day before at home against Durfee, the Whalers carried their momentum over to Saturday against Wareham.

“We scored first and never let up. We had possession 20 minutes in the first half and the same in the second half. We just never let up. They wanted to win, so they played very well as a team with some excellent passing,” Moran said.

Cassie Moran scored the first goal of the game for the Whalers off a long hit from Grace-Anne Tornovish for the only score of the first half.

In the second half, Caroline Stanton put the ball in the net off a cross from Marelli. Siegel sent a free hit up-field to Lia Newman, who drove it past the keeper for the final goal of the day.

Opening win

The Whalers picked up their first win of the season at home over Durfee on Friday.

“It feels great. We got the monkey off our back. It is just going to steam-roll from here. I think they were tense and now they will relax and it will get better,” Moran said following the game.

Nantucket controlled the ball on offense, taking 15 shots on goal during the game, while earning 12 corners compared to only two shots on goal and six corners from Durfee.

“They are getting corners by forcing the foul. Every corner is an opportunity to score,” Moran said.

Midway through the second half, the Whalers’ work finally paid off. Cassie Moran connected with Grace-Anne Tornovish right in front of the net.

Tornovish took the perfect pass on her stick and redirected the shot past the goalie’s pads for her first goal of the season.

McInerney did not see much action in net through the game until the second half when Durfee was looking for the equalizer.

“She didn’t see any action for 55 minutes and made two big saves with five minutes left,” Moran said.

Lia Newman and Riley Fredericks played well in the middle for the Whalers, Moran said.

The Whalers traveled to Mashpee last Wednesday and dropped their third straight one-goal game to open the season.

“We out-play every team in the first half and always have a tough time coming out in the second half and the other team has been able to capitalize on that,” Moran said of opening the season with three straight losses, all of which were scoreless at the half.

The Whalers had six chances to score in the first half, but could not get on the board. The dueling teams went into the break in a 0-0 tie. Mashpee scored 12 minutes into the second half for the only goal of the game.

Marelli showed some speed on the outside, while Cassie Moran carried the ball up field and had four chances to score. Siegel was strong at defense.

Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com

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